IFFHS DAILY NEWS - FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023 - DAY 3


Picture : Melchie Dumornay, Haiti's young star, made a great performance against England and Georgia Stanway, who scored the winning goal.


IFFHS DAILY NEWS – FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2023 

 

DAY 3




 Sophia Smith scored twice !


9 -  USA – VIETNAM  3-0    (GROUP E)

 

Eden Park Auckland. 41 107 spectators. Half time : 2-0. Referee : Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco).

Goals for USA : Sophia Smith (14’, 45+7’), Lindsey Horan (77’).


FACTS AND STATS

 

-       27 – 0 for the shots, 3-0 for the final result : the reigning FIFA World Cup champion USA dominated the game with 70% possession, but many chances wasted !

-       Alex Morgan made an assist for Smith’s 1-0, but failed to score her 10th goal in a World Cup final stage in converting a penalty, saved by Vietnam’s Goalkeeper Kim Tranh Tran Thi, who was the best player of her team !

-       Sophia Smith, the young and talented striker of Portland Thorns, was crowned as the Best Player in USA last year. She was the matchwinner for USA, scoring two goals and assisting the third goal !

-       Vietnam and USA have each 22 of the 23 squad to play in their national league. Only Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, France) for USA and Nhu Huynh (Vilaverdense, Portugal) for Vietnam, are the exceptions.

-       It was a historical day for Vietnam, the first game in a World Cup Final Stage (men and women included) !

-       Megan Rapinoe recorded today her 200th international cap (63 goals) when she replaced Alex Morgan (208 caps, 121 goals, 50 assists) ! Two Queens of USA National Team !

 



 Two goals for Hinata Miyazawa 



6 -  JAPAN –ZAMBIA   5-0           (GROUP C)

 

Waikato Stadium, Hamilton. 16 111 spectators. Half time : 1-0. Referee : Tess Olofsson (Sweden). Goals for Japan : Hinata Miyazawa (43’, 62’), Mina Tanaka (55’), Jun Endo (71’), Riko Ueki (90+11’).

Red card : Catherine Musonda (Zambia)  90+7’.

 

FACTS AND STATS

 

-       Japan sent out a warning of their World Cup possibilities, racking up the biggest win at the tournament since 2003 !

-       Zambia’s success in Germany some weeks before the World Cup gave more credit to the African team, but Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji, the two Goalscorers present in the IFFHS World Rankings, had nothing to negociate today.

-       Futoski Ikeda, Japan’s coach, who was nominated in 2021 for the Olympics , has a young team supervised by the two World Champions 2011, Saki Kumagai and Mana Iwabuchi. 

-       Aoba Fujino, 19 years old, is the symbol of the talent of Japan’s new generation. She was named as the best of the game.

-       Grace Chanda, Zambia’s playmaker, finally missed the opening match and also the tournament.  Due to an illness which has not been disclosed yet.

 

 

 

Kerly Theus impressive !


7 -  ENGLAND – HAITI  1-0    (GROUP D)

 

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. 44 369 spectators. Half time : 1-0. Referee : Emikar Caldera Barrera (Venezuela). Goal for England : Georgia Stanway (29’ penalty).

 

FACTS AND STATS

 

-       After two games without goals against Portugal and Australia, England ended the serie with an unconvincing 1-0 in the World Cup opener against Haiti.

-       It was the first game of Haïti in the World Cup final stage ! The « Grenadines » wrote history, realizing a great performance. Only a great save from England’s Mary Earps allowed England to keep the 1-0 in the last minutes.

-       Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Fran Kirby – England was very   wealened because of their injuries, but they scored again in this game, to continue their serie of 14 consecutive games with goals in World Cup Final stage. Only Norway (15 games between 1991 and 1999) made better.

-       Georgia Stanway scored one more time the winning goal for England. She saw first her penalty superbly saved by Kerly Theus, but after a review she used her second chance to clinically score.

-       Haiti’s Goalkeeper Kerly Theus (10 saves) and above all Melchie Dumornay (19 years old), the new player of Olympique Lyon, 8 times UEFA Champions League winner, have lit up the game. Dumornay was crowned as the Best player of the game.

 

 


Denmark and China very close until last minute !


8 – DENMARK – CHINA    1-0              (GROUP D)

 

HBF Park, Perth. 16 989 spectators. Half time : 0-0. Referee : Marie Soleil Beaudoin (Canada). Goal for Denmark : Amalie Vangsgaard (90+1’).

 

FACTS AND STATS

 

-       Denmark marked their return to the World Cup tournament for the first time in 16 years with a victory over China in the last minutes.

-       Before 32 years, China and Denmark played their first game in World Cup. In 1991 in Guangzhou, they made a draw 2-2 with Shui Qingxia as China player. Today she is China’s national coach.

-       Denmark lost 8 of their 9 last World Cup games since 1995. 

-       Amalie Vangsgaard was the match winner for Denmark. It was her first goal for the A National team .